Showing posts with label cats. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cats. Show all posts

Monday, August 18, 2008

Avocado Burgers, Or Why Jes Needs a George Foreman Grill

Sheba & Mistoffelees

Sheba and Mistoffelees didn't want to be outdone in cuteness by the kitten. I found them curled up like an old married couple this afternoon (and by "curled," I mean the man is stretched out doing his thing and the lady is tucked in the nook of his stomach--so domestic!).

On to the recipe. Well, the recipe below deserves a better photograph. Like, a good slider would have condiments of sorts, a tomato slice, maybe lettuce--something tasty--but I ate it this way, plain with a crack biscuit. The crack biscuit obviously made up for any lack of anything but burger and biscuit, not gonna lie.

Anarchy Burgers, 2007

I've been toying with this recipe for over a year. Above a picture of the last blog post I made about them on the now erased original Cupcake Punk. (sigh) Last summer I was fortunate enough to have a roommate who owned a George Foreman Grill that she used specifically for veggie burgers and the grill was perfect for my avocado burgers. No matter how juicy and not uberly firm the patty was it would still grill like a nasty Boca Burger. Now I have to fry them, which is insanely less healthy, but still delicious. Maybe more falafelish. I've been thinking about baking them, but haven't gotten to that yet.

For this batch I used chipotles instead of jalepenos. I like the smoky flavor, although the jalepenos* give more a kick to the burgers. You can throw in whatever ingredients you think will shine. The real beauty of these is the ease and the freeze. They take ~10 minutes to make and then you can make individual patties, saranwrap them, throw them in a ziploc bag in the freezer, and then pull one out to cook whenever you're hungry. This is my secret for staying alive in college, actually. One batch makes up to 20 burgers, so that's a steal for the ~ $10 in ingredients or so.

*The Firefox spell check for "jalepenos" results in a first option of "Pentecostals." **giggle**

Avocado Burgers

4 ripe avocados
2 medium on the vine tomatoes, diced
1 can black beans
1 medium onion, minced
2 cups frozen corn (or fresh corn off of the cob)
4-5 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, chopped finely
2 cups bread crumbs
olive oil/vegetable oil for sauteing


In a frying pan, sauté the onion on medium heat for 6-7 minutes until clear and tender. Add the corn and chipotles, sauté until the corn slightly browns on the edges. Take off the heat and allow to cool.

Meanwhile, in a large bowl, mix the avocado, black beans, and tomatoes. Mash slightly, but you want to leave most of the black beans and tomato dice whole--just make sure the avocado is mashed to a smooth consistency. You're going for a smooth guacamole texture.

Add the corn mixture to the avocado mixture bowl, combine. Add the bread crumbs (you may need less or more depending on how moist the mixture is) and mix with a spoon. You may want to use your hands to combine everything together.

Form into individual patties and grill/sauté/freeze them. Serve on buns, biscuits, naan with hummus (my favorite!), however you like!

Friday, August 15, 2008

Crack Biscuits

Miss Dorian Gray on my couch

First off, do I not have the cutest kitten ever? Ever ever?

Now for the best biscuit recipe EVER. I'm going to warn you right now: don't read this post any further unless you're willing to make a commitment. A serious commitment. A commitment to carbs. If you're low-carb, no-carb, anti-everything-that's-good-in-this-world-carb, then stop. (Anyways, I don't know why you'd be reading my blog if you hate carbs...) Just don't say I didn't warn you.

These, these are crack biscuits. I swear there's got to be MSG or crack slipped in them somehow while I'm not looking. Maybe there's some major chemical change while they bake. Maybe, just maybe, the southerners did something right.

The problem is, I can't stop making them. This is my...7th? batch or so in two weeks. Seriously. At first I didn't have self-rising flour, and even though they were super dense and tiny and probably not that good, I kept making them will all-purpose flour until I went to the grocery store to buy flour specifically for these biscuits. I've also used up an entire jar and a half of veganaise on them too.

And why are they so good? Baked in a muffin tin, they get more crispy on more area, leaving a golden satisfying hardness with each bite of the bottom. But on top and in the middle they are so light and so fluffy and so buttery and so satisfying. I'm eating my 3rd one of the morning as I speak. And did I mention they only need three, THREE!, ingredients?

Southern Mayo Biscuits

2 cups self-rising flour
3 tbsp veganaise
1 cup soy milk


Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl. Spray a muffin tin with oil. Spoon the biscuit batter into the muffin tin so that each cup is half-full. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until the bottoms of the biscuits are golden-brown.

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

NYC Recap & Dorian Gray

I'm back! Miss me? So down to the nitty gritty. New York was tasty as ever (as if it couldn't be). I didn't take pictures of what I ate because, well, I just don't do that in restaurants. But here's a list of all the vegan meals I had and where I had them at (minus a Thai place in Park Slope & a place I ate a veggie burger at...can't remember the name either).


Curly's Vegetarian Lunch: Blue Plate Special Vegan Corn Dogs with French Fries, Vegan Sangria Milkshake. I ate the corn dogs last summer with Kyle and have been dreaming of them ever since. Totally worth the trek over the bridge to Manhattan. The sangria milkshake was decidedly pleasant too. Who knew that sangria would work well in a milkshake?! It reminded me of a lassi (the South Indian yogurt drink), but alcoholic. All the better!

Second Helpings: Just a snake of a Mushroom Spring Roll. Very delicious. The cafe isn't vegetarian, but most everything they serve is, and they have vegan baked goods. What's not to like?

The V-Spot: BRUNCH! (my favorite for this trip): Vegan Breakfast Burrito w/ side salad, a side of a Vegan Pancake, and a Vegan Mint Chocolate Chip Milkshake. The breakfast burrito was OUT OF THIS WORLD. As was the pancake. David said it was more like a crepe than a pancake. But the cinnamon and other sundry spices in the batter were delish. And the milkshake was amazing too. Noticing a trend yet? David ordered the steak and tofu and that was rockin' as well. I tried it, of course, and the seitan was seasoned perfectly. Plus their coffee has a hint of cinnamon. Yum!

Pizza Plus
: Best vegan pizza I've ever had. We ordered a large wheat crust pie with mushrooms and sun dried tomatoes. The vegan cheese actually melted AND tasted cheesy. Even David, a die-hard cheese-eater thought it was delicious. Plus they have $3 Brooklyn Lagers. Who can resist? I reheated the pizza in the oven for lunch the next day and it tasted just as good. Leftover seal of approval.

Red Bamboo
: This was my last vegan meal in NYC. I had the lunch special of Vegan Chicken Parmesean with a side of Collard Green Spring Roll. The chicken's texture was right-on and the diced tomatoes on top made the meal shine. The parmesean was ok, I guess, I mean, it didn't taste like anything special, but I loved it. I finished off the lunch with a Vegan Chocolate Milkshake.


We drank quite a bit, as can be imagined, and drink prices weren't as scary as I expected. $2 PBRs in Williamsburg, $3 Brooklyn Lagers, $6 Hefeweizen, $3 Stella Artois, etc.


Ok, so in other news, meet Miss Dorian Gray! She's 7 weeks old (I think) and is going to grow into the worlds largest kitty. Ok, maybe not world's largest, but she's got seriously huge back feet and I think she's got maine coon in her. So really, she's going to be big. She never stops purring, is unfazed by the fact that my cats hate her, and she's obsessed with batting my eye lashes (which is a little uncomfortable for me). Basically, she's the bomb.

Thursday, November 29, 2007

Home Is Where the Whisk Is

Dear world, meet my new kitchen, soup pot and all:


Yes, the place is small--I don't even have a silverware drawer--but it's my own. My own dear kitchen. My own dear kitchen with a nice tile counter, a gas stove, a teeny tiny oven, and a refrigerator that is all my own!!! I feel like I've dropped into heaven!

Oh, and meet Brautigan:


He's the kitty I adopted that, unfortunately no longer lives with me. He was only 8 or 9 months old, a growing cat who needs lots of space to run and play and bounce around it. My 250 sq ft apartment didn't cut it. So I did a cat switch with my mom. I got the two siamese cats in exchange--Sheba, a bitchy 11 year old lass who hides under the bed and hisses, and Mistoffelees, a 4 year old who used to be really playful until he went through rounds and rounds of urinary tract infections and is now just fat. I mean, they're sweet cats, dont' get me wrong, but I miss Brautigan already, and it's only been a few hours. He was my dream cat. But I just couldn't give him what he needed.

And, just to top it off, a few glamour shots of Rad and Merckx at the new place: